we had the big sandy relief bill, $60 billion of mostly pork barrel spending, republicans blinked on that. now we have the debt kraoerblgs it looks like the president will get his way on that at least for now. i've been in washington for a longtime, 25 years covering the debt deals and the budget deals. what is frustrating about this is that the only time i can recall over the last 25 years congress has had to get serious about cutting spending and reducing the deficit is when they are at the point of this debt ceiling, and the president says we don't want to use that any more as a kind of point of emphasis, and i think that is a mistake, because what it means is we're never going to get serious about the debt unless we use the debt ceiling as that point where we make a deal to reduce the spending. martha: very distressing. matt, steve, thank you very much, guys. we'll see where this goes. we'll see you soon. >> thanks. >> thank you, martha. bill: 13 minutes before the hour and just about everyone is watching their taxes go higher. why is a famous protkpwoefrl and a pretty good one a